I am the Emperor of Humanity across the Multiverse

Giant.

Human???

The worker ants in their bio-protective suits widened their eyes, their expressions full of disbelief.

The Reapers' true bodies were extremely frail and emaciated, with disproportionate bodies and heads that made them appear top-heavy. Standing at less than one meter tall, they relied on semi-permanent bio-skeletal structures to assist them in movement or combat.

However, the bio-protective suits worn by the soldier and worker ants had weak defenses. Earlier, the ODST and AECS forces that had boarded using drop pods had easily killed the soldier ants and cleared the landing zone.

In terms of individual combat effectiveness, the soldier ants were probably no match even for Atlas' private security forces.

After all, the Reapers relied on celestial-class warships and swarms of insect-like carrier-based fighters to conduct their attacks. Once a planet was openly occupied, the soldier ants would descend in transports to handle cleanup operations.

At this moment, the dozens of worker ants standing on the landing platform were momentarily stunned.

Although they were under the psychic control of the Queen, each Reaper had its own relatively independent consciousness and logical thinking. They couldn't comprehend how the giant in front of them had managed to reach the landing platform.

But before they could figure it out, everything went dark. Their connection with the Queen was severed. What was happening?

Confused and disoriented, their consciousnesses faded completely.

In reality, they hadn't seen the giant swing his hammer. Their bodies were instantly obliterated.

Splat!!

The crisp sound of bodies bursting echoed across the landing platform.

The giant, or rather Vulkan, now standing at three meters tall in his prototype power armor, had crouched upon exiting the Shrike assault boat and casually crushed the worker ants who had been gawking at his towering figure.

Following this, three more Shrikes, still in stealth mode, landed on the edges of the platform, releasing their landing gear and opening their side doors.

Thud, thud!

Hunters from ARS's First Recon Unit, clad in full exoskeletons, escorted four engineers in white protective suits out of the Shrikes, all gathering behind Vulkan.

"Let's move."

Vulkan issued a brief command through his helmet's comms as he led the way toward the tunnel entrance at the far end of the platform.

Two combat squads spread out, flanking Vulkan on either side in a wedge-shaped formation, while the engineers, carrying 8mm submachine guns, stayed close behind to avoid being left behind.

Before long, the group entered a passage illuminated by a faint green glow.

Inside Vulkan's helmet:

A pulse scan's feedback appeared on the upper-left corner of the mini-radar, while the power armor's environmental analysis filled the right side of the screen. This allowed Vulkan to monitor all the dynamics around them, minimizing any delays caused by detours.

However, when Vulkan noticed the oxygen concentration marked at 22% and carbon dioxide levels below 0.03%, an idea struck him.

If his father had once said that the Reapers sought to enslave humanity, why couldn't they do the reverse? Why not enslave the Reapers' soldier and worker ants as cheap labor instead?

After all, with over two billion of them, killing them all would waste ammunition, manpower, and time. There was also no spare space or food to detain them.

But if the company's biological team could crack the Reapers' psychic control system, they might be able to manipulate them just like the Reaper Queen.

With this thought, Vulkan opened the internal comms and linked to Saint Giles' power armor channel, suggesting, "Brother, you might try destroying part of the Reaper Queen's brain tissue and handing it over to Dr. Ashford for research. We could gain something unexpected."

"Understood."

With Saint Giles showing no objection, Vulkan refocused on the task at hand.

Before long, the team reached a corner.

The pulse scan revealed a wide space on the right, filled with soldier ants about 2.5 meters tall in their bio-protective suits, armed with bone-like energy weapons. The area they were guarding was the only path leading to the control room.

Vulkan raised his hand, signaling a halt, and gave orders over the comms:

"Second squad, stay here to protect the engineers. First squad, with me, let's take care of the trash."

Meanwhile, on the Reaper soldier ants' side:

Their bio-protective suits emitted a low hum, like a slowed-down, more grating version of a mosquito's buzz, which would be annoying to any human.

They didn't understand how the humans had managed to locate the control room so precisely, but they knew they had to stop the intruders. If the humans gained control of the mothership, the Reapers' fleet would lose navigation and firepower support, turning them into easy targets for the human forces.

But—

Thud, thud!

What they first saw wasn't just any human but the three-meter-tall Vulkan. The Primarch charged at their formation with blinding speed, too fast for them to lock onto.

!!!

Even though they were under the psychic control of the Queen, the soldier ants couldn't help but feel fear at the sight of the giant.

They hurriedly raised their weapons and pulled the triggers.

Pew! Pew pew!

Countless green energy bolts shot toward the speeding figure of Vulkan.

Hum! Hum!

However, most of the energy bolts were deflected by the superconductive magnetic field generated by his prototype power armor.

Even though the barrage was so intense that it quickly overloaded the magnetic field, the remaining shots barely left scorch marks on the mithril-alloy armor, doing no real damage.

By then, Vulkan had already charged into the enemy ranks, swinging the massive frost hammer, which had been reforged and "blessed" by his father. The ensuing slaughter was one-sided.

Boom!!

Crunch!!

Faced with the ferocious hammer strikes, the soldier ants had no chance of mounting an effective defense. They were instantly crushed, their bodies mangled beyond recognition.

After all, the soldier ants' only effective strategy against the ODST, AECS, and the bio-weapons and combat mechs of the boarding forces had been sheer numbers.

But here, there were less than 500 of them—far too few to pose any threat to a Primarch, let alone Vulkan, who was a master of close-quarters combat.

While the soldier ants' attention was fully occupied by Vulkan, the First Recon Unit hunters providing support moved around the corner in groups of three, executing coordinated bursts of suppressive fire.

Bang! Bang bang!

Pew! Pew!

The distinct sounds of gauss rifles, BFG plasma guns, and .30 caliber smart machine guns echoed through the open space.

Within minutes, the combined efforts of Vulkan and the hunters had cleared the area. More than half of the soldier ants had been slain by Vulkan's frost hammer alone.

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